Marc Dolce may not be a familiar name to you yet but you’re sure to be familiar with his work. The Nike designer was recently tapped by the company to re-envision the venerable Air Force 1 for its 30th anniversary, a difficult task to say the least. Not only did the man eagerly embrace the challenge, his design for the Lunar Force 1 has elevated the Air Force 1 silhouette to another plane. Forbes recently caught up with the designer at Nike’s New York headquarters to discuss his background, his inspiration, and how the Lunar Force 1 came to be. Below is a brief excerpt, if you’d like to check out the full article head over to Forbes.

“I get a lot of my inspiration from New York,” Dolce says. “People say Japan is crazy but New York to me is a combination of street wear and sportswear and high-end fashion that gets mixed. You don’t really see that anywhere else.”
“It’s an emotional connection with product,” he says. “I did a sketch of Jordan dunking in ’91, and I held onto that sketch because that was for me the point in time when I realized you could combine sport and fashion together. That was the difference.”